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3.13 - Revelation 13

3.13.1 - Revelation 13:1

Some manuscripts read, “he stood,” the change being effected by the dropping of one letter nu from the end of the verb estathē. If the letter is properly dropped, it indicates that the dragon himself stood upon the sand of the sea. If the letter is added, it means that John stood upon the sand of the sea. . . inasmuch as it is more likely that a letter be dropped than a letter added to the text, some scholars continue to feel that the Authorized Version is correct that John stood upon the sand of the sea.⁴

Hengstenberg remarks, “One cannot decide on external grounds between the two [textual] readings.” Authorities are divided. But a careful study of the context shews [sic] conclusively that it is the Seer, and not the dragon that “stood upon the sand of the sea.” The apocalyptic prophet always takes his place or stand as a point of observation in keeping with the subject at hand. Thus heaven (Rev. 4:1+); the sand of the sea (Rev. 13:1+); the wilderness (Rev. 17:1+); and a high mountain (Rev. 21:10+), are respective points of view from which he can contemplate the various panoramic visions as they pass before his gaze.⁵

There can be no kingdom without a king, and no empire without an emperor; neither can there be a king in fact without a kingdom. We cannot consistently speak of imperial power and dominion apart from a personal head which represents and embodies that power.⁸

But it is very clear from what follows in Rev. 13+ that there is something more than the Empire here in view. In Rev. 13:3-8+ it is a person that is before us. We are satisfied that this same person is also described, symbolically, in the opening verses. As is frequently the case in the prophetic scriptures, the king and his kingdom are here inseparably united. Rev. 13:1+, 2+ portrays both the Empire and its last Emperor.⁹

Is the beast out of the sea a man or an empire? The answer is both. (a) The beast is a man because his number is that of a man (Rev. 13:18+). Also the use of the masculine pronoun αὐτόν [auton] (Rev. 13:8+) to refer to the neuter θηρίον [thērion] (Rev. 13:1-2+, 4+) indicates that he is a human being. In addition, parallels between the beast and the Lamb indicate that he is a person: both have followers on whose foreheads are inscribed their names (Rev. 13:16-17+; 14:1+), both are conquerors (Rev. 5:5+; 13:7+), and both receive worship (Rev. 5:8+; 13:4+). (b) At the same time the beast is an empire over which the man reigns. This fact is demonstrated by the symbolism of the beasts of Daniel 7+.¹⁰

These contrasting terms are indicative of the origin of the two beasts. The sea may symbolize the Gentiles (Rev. 17:15+; cf. Dan. 7:2-3+) and if this is the case here, the opposite term, the earth, symbolizes the Jews. There is precedence for the Gentile origin of Antichrist in the Old Testament allusions, and the Jewish identification may be strengthened if here “the earth” has technical sense of “the land” [of Israel] as it sometimes may in Revelation (Rev. 11:18+; cf. Dan. 8:9+).¹¹

Christ’s inheritance is not only the Church which is the pearl of great price for which He sold all that He had, but it also includes Israel which is the treasure hidden in the field and which He purchased with His own blood and which He hid again.¹²

The treasure [Mat. 13:45-46] represents the Jews, so it is natural that the pearl [Mat. 13:45-46] would represent the Gentiles. Furthermore, the pearl comes from the sea, and the sea symbolizes the Gentile world (Dan. 7:2-3+; Rev. 17:1+, 17:15+). Finally, the pearl comes from the oyster, which itself was unclean in the Law of Moses but made clean by the Law of Messiah.¹³

That we have here in Rev. 13:1+, 2+ a composite kingdom is clear from the ‘seven heads.’ Now note that in Dan. 7+ the first, second and fourth kingdoms are not said to have more than one head, but the third has ‘four heads’ (Dan. 7:6+). Thus the beasts of Dan. 7+ have, three of them one head each, and the third four heads, or seven in all; which tallies perfectly with Rev. 13:1+. . . . the four kingdoms of Dan. 7+ are to be restored, and play their final parts immediately before the Millennium. If the reader will turn to Dan. 2+, which is parallel with Dan. 7+ - the ‘image in its four parts’ (the head, the breast and arms, the belly and thighs, the legs and feet) corresponding with the four beasts - it will be found that when we come to Dan. 2:45+, which speaks of Christ (under the figure of ‘the Stone cut out of the mount without hands’ returning to earth to destroy the forces of evil, and then set up His kingdom, we discover that the Stone ‘brake in pieces the iron (Rome), the brass (Greece), the clay (apostate Israel), the silver (Medo-Persia), and the gold (Babylon).’ What we desire the reader to note particularly is that the Stone strikes not only the iron, but the brass, clay, silver, and gold; in fact, Dan. 2:35+ tells us, expressly, they shall be ‘broken to pieces together!’ If, then, they are destroyed together, they must all be on the scene at the time of Christ’s return to earth to inaugurate His millennial reign, and if so, each of them must have been revived and restored!!¹⁶

3.13.2 - Revelation 13:2

It is a composite of the four beasts of Daniel’s vision (Dan. 7+) and must be related to them. Daniel wrote from the standpoint of the Jewish people, whose fate under the Gentile empires to come would effect the First Coming of Messiah. Revelation, written under the fourth and last of these empires, presumably after the Jewish commonwealth had been crushed, takes this picture of Gentile world power from Daniel and combines these four empires onto the picture of the future world-state. The magnificence of Babylon, the vastness of Medo-Persia, the dominating culture of Greek Macedonia, and the organizing might of Rome are united in one state that will aspire to world domination and that will achieve it.¹⁹

Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Dan. 2:41-44+)

The final world empire will be in some sense a revival of the Roman Empire (the iron legs and ten toes of the statue in Daniel 2+), but will far exceed it both in power and extent. It will be much more than a European confederacy; it will cover the entire world.²⁰

When they had pasture, they were filled; they were filled and their heart was exalted; therefore they forgot Me. So I will be to them like a lion; like a leopard by the road I will lurk; I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs; I will tear open their rib cage, and there I will devour them like a lion. The wild beast shall tear them. O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is from Me. I will be your King; where is any other, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges to whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’? I gave you a king in My anger, and took him away in My wrath. (Hos. 13:6-11) [emphasis added]

The lion, bear, leopard, and wild beast . . . correspond to the world empires among which Israel is to be scattered and persecuted (Dan. 7+) during the time that she is in Dispersion until she will be regathered by her covenant-keeping LORD (Eze. 37:1-28; Mat. 24:31; Rom. 11:26).²²

He will be Satan’s parody of the God-Man. He will be an incarnation of the Devil. The world today is talking of and looking for the Super-man. This is exactly what the Antichrist will be. He will be the Serpent’s masterpiece. . . . he will be the culmination and consummation of satanic craft and power. All the evil, malignity, cunning, and power of the Serpent will be embodied in this terrible monster.²⁵

Take up this proverb against the king of Babylon . . . How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms?’ (Isa. 14:4, 12-16)

3.13.3 - Revelation 13:3

Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time. “And the beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.” (Rev. 17:10-11+)²⁷

It is best to identify the restoration to life with an end-time satanically controlled king who will come to the world as a false Christ. This allows for the interchangeability of the head with the whole beast—i.e., the king with his kingdom—as Rev. 13:12+, 14+ required. It coincides with further details to come in Rev. 17:8+. It agrees with the final climactic appearance of the beast in history as a person, in concert with the vision’s focus on the future. This means a future sequence that will be a close counterfeiting of Christ’s death and resurrection.²⁹

[The] view [that the beast is literally resurrected from the dead] has many more advocates down through history than some might realize. . . . It is interesting to realize that even Augustine believed like [Tim] LaHaye on this matter (The City of God, Book XX, Chapter 19). Another ancient one who held views similar . . . is Lactantius (early 300s) (Divine Institutes, Book VII, Chapter 17; Commentary on the Apocalypes, Chapter 13). More recent individuals include: Lewis Sperry Chafer, J. A. Seiss, Charles C. Ryrie, Leon Morris, Walter K. Price, Robert Govett and Robert Thomas.³²

I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs. Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! A sword will be on his arm and on his right eye! His arm will be totally withered and his right eye will be blind.” (Zec. 11:12-17) [emphasis added]

3.13.4 - Revelation 13:4

• It rules out all consideration of Nero as the Beast for people would hardly worship a failed legend. Whatever worship Nero might have received, it came prior to his death by suicide.
• It explains the prominence which Scripture gives to the wounding and revival of the Beast. This is the catalyst which brings an outpouring of worship to both the dragon and the Beast. It is the coup de grâce of the miraculous signs empowered by the dragon.
• It recognizes the typological counterfeit of the Beast as pseudo-Christ. Christ died and rose from the dead only to be rejected by His own. The Beast dies and rises from the dead to acclaim.

Some wish to interpret this as a reference to the revival of the Roman Empire, . . . But a revived Roman Empire would not cause man to worship it as God any more than the revival of Poland or Israel did. . . . It is the resurrection of the man Antichrist which creates this worship.³⁸

Then the king shall do according to his own will: he shall exalt and magnify himself above every god, shall speak blasphemies against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the wrath has been accomplished; for what has been determined shall be done. He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women,³⁹ nor regard any god; for he shall exalt himself above them all. (Dan. 11:36-37+)

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. (2Th. 2:3-4)

And again, speaking of Antichrist, [Paul] says, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped [2Th. 2:4].” He points out here those who are called gods, by such as know not God, that is, idols. For the Father of all is called God, and is so; and Antichrist shall be lifted up, not above Him, but above those which are indeed called gods, but are not.—Irenaeus, Against Heresies, iii.vi.2⁴⁰

I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High (Isa. 13:13-14)

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying, ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities?’ (Isa. 14:15-17)

This cry of the world, ‘Who is like unto the Beast’ is a travesty of the song of Moses. When celebrating Jehovah’s overthrow of their enemies at the Red Sea, Israel sang, ‘Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the Gods! Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders!’ (Ex. 15:11 cf. Ps. 89:8).⁴¹

The Antichrist will be a man (2Th. 2:4), but at some point in his life, he will be indwelt by a powerful demon from the abyss. This demon-possessed man will be a gifted orator, an intellectual genius, possess great charm and charisma, and have immense leadership power. Added to those natural qualities will be the hellish power of Satan. The result will be a person of superhuman power, vast intelligence, and consummate wickedness.⁴²

3.13.5 - Revelation 13:5

But when this Antichrist shall have devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord declared, that “many coming from the east and from the west should sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”—Irenaeus, Against Heresies, v.xxx [emphasis added]⁴⁶

3.13.6 - Revelation 13:6

3.13.7 - Revelation 13:7

I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, . . . He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time. (Dan. 7:21+, 25+)

But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth. As yet you exalt yourself against My people in that you will not let them go. (Ex. 9:16-17)

2 Thessalonians 2:1-8 predicts that the rapture of the church must occur before the appearance of the Antichrist, and in Revelation 13:1-10+ (cf. Rev. 6:2+; 11:7+) he will have appeared. This negates the possibility that the church is in view in Revelation 13:7+, for it will have already been raptured.⁴⁹

Daniel 7:23+ clearly states that at some point the Fourth Empire devours the whole earth. This is something Rome never did. Some attempt to make the expression mean the “then-known world,” but it cannot be said that Rome even conquered the then-known world. . . . Rome did not even extend as far east as the empire of Alexander the Great. The Greeks went as far as the Indus River in India . . . Rome did not even extend that far. Furthermore, Rome never fully conquered the Parthian Empire, and that, too, was part of the known world. The area of Scotland was also part of the known world that Rome did not conquer. Rome had to build the Hadrian Wall in order to keep the nomads of northing Scotland from overrunning that part of Britain controlled by Rome.⁵⁰

A totalitarian system of unbelievable scope and power is also predicted. Every new invention of man gives him one more tool by which he can control others and enforce his will upon them. These inventions under the power of an able leader could make him the undisputed tyrant of the earth. Such a rule is foreshadowed by the beast. . . The concentration of evil in one vast system ruled by an antichrist who will be the most powerful potentate the human race has ever produced.⁵¹

3.13.8 - Revelation 13:8

Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” (Rev. 14:9-11+)

The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. (Rev. 17:8+) [emphasis added]

• Too much emphasis is placed upon minor differences in phrasing when referring to the same book.
• The two books serve the same purpose—differentiating between the redeemed and the unredeemed. So why have two books?
• The book which the names of the Beast worshipers have not been written in is referred to as both the Book of Life of the lamb (Rev. 13:8+) and the Book of Life (Rev. 17:8+). It is one and the same book.

1. The Unsaved - Each person to be born is written in the book. Those who die before coming to faith are blotted out.⁵²
2. The Saved - Each person to be born is written in the book. Those who come to faith prior to death have their names retained in the book.
3. Beast Worshipers - The beast worshipers are a unique category of people of the time of the end. They are so hardened against God and destined to reject Him in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary that they are never written in the book (Rev. 13:8+; 17:8+). See Earth Dwellers. See Beast Worshipers are Unique.

And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. (1Pe. 1:17-20) [emphasis added]

3.13.8.1 - From the Foundation of the World

• God existed before the foundation (Gen. 1:1; Ps. 90:2; Isa. 40:21).
• Christ existed before the foundation (Isa. 48:16; Mic. 5:2; John 1:1; 17:5, 24).
• Christ was loved by the Father before the foundation (John 17:24).
• Wisdom was established before the foundation (Pr. 8:23).
• Believers were predestined for salvation before the foundation (Eph. 1:4; 2Ti. 1:9).
• God promised eternal life before time began (Tit. 1:2).
• Christ was foreordained before the foundation (1Pe. 1:20; Rev. 13:8+).
• Unrevealed secrets of God existed from the foundation (Mat. 13:35).
• The kingdom was prepared for the faithful from the foundation (Mat. 25:34).
• The blood of all the prophets was shed from the foundation (Luke 11:50).
• The Beast worshipers were not written in the Book of Life from the foundation (Rev. 17:8+).

3.13.8.2 - A Lamb and a Beast

3.13.9 - Revelation 13:9

A textual clue found in Revelation 13:9+ has led many Bible interpreters to the conclusion that those addressed in Revelation 13:10+ are not the seven churches of Asia Minor but rather, consist of a different group all together. When Christ addressed the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation 2+-3+, He always used the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7+, 11+, 17+, 29+; 3:6+, 13+, 22+). . . . Conspicuously missing from this phrase [in Rev. 13:9+] are the words “what the Spirit says to the churches.” [emphasis added]⁵⁶

Hear and give ear: Do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken. Give glory to the LORD your God before He causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you are looking for light, He turns it into the shadow of death And makes it dense darkness. (Jer. 13:15-16)

3.13.10 - Revelation 13:10

And it shall be, if they say to you, ‘Where should we go?’ then you shall tell them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.” ’ (Jer. 15:2)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (Rom. 8:35-37 cf. Ps. 44:22) [emphasis added]

Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:3)

3.13.11 - Revelation 13:11

The Seven-Headed Beast and the Beast with Lamb's Horns

⁶⁰

The second beast which is described, Rev. 13:11-17+, as coming out of the earth, and having two horns like unto a lamb, and speaking as a dragon, and exercising all the authority of the first beast in his sight, is referred to the papacy. The false prophet receives a similar application. So Luther, Vitringa, Bengel, Auberlen, Hengstenberg, Ebrard, and many English divines.⁶¹

The commentators are in the most dire confusion on the identification . . . the Roman church, the Greek church, the French Republic, the Jesuits, the Roman theologians, the earthy carnal wisdom, including the heathen philosophies, false doctrines and the like. . . Still others identify the second beast with the heathen priesthood, the principle of inductive philosophy, witchcraft and soothsaying, divination and magic.⁶²

The second beast is a specific individual rather than a religious institution. . . . it is more likely that the singular phrase “beast” (thērion) or “false prophet” (pseudoprophētēs) refers to an individual rather than a religious institution. Moreover, because he spends eternity in the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20+; 20:10+), the false prophet is characterized as possessing an eternal soul. Such an attribute and eternal fate is descriptive of individuals rather than institutions. [emphasis added]⁶⁴

There is a Trinity of Evil. Now it surely needs no argument to prove that these three evil persons are opposed to and are the antithesis of the three Persons in the Godhead. The Devil stands opposed to God the Father - ‘Ye are of your father, the Devil,’ John 8:40, etc. The Antichrist stands opposed to God the Son - his very name shows this. The remaining evil person stands opposed to God the Spirit. If this be the case, then our present task is greatly simplified: it is merely a matter of noting what is separately predicted of the two Beasts in Rev. 13+ so as to ascertain which of them stands opposed to Christ and which to the Holy Spirit. . . Now there are only two arguments of any plausibility which have been advanced to support the view that it is the second Beast of Rev. 13+ which is the Antichrist, but so far as we are aware no one has endeavored to show that the first Beast represents the third Person in the Trinity of Evil! Yet he must be so if the second is the Antichrist!⁶⁵

However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-14)

He is the third person of the Trinity of Evil. As there is to be an Antichrist who will both counterfeit and oppose the Christ of God, so there will be an Anti-spirit who will simulate and oppose the Spirit of God. Just as the great work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ, so the one aim of the Anti-spirit will be to magnify the false christ (see Rev. 13:12+). Just as the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was visibly attended by ‘cloven tongues like as of fire’ (Acts 2:3), so we read of the Anti-spirit that ‘he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men’ (Rev. 13:13+). And just as it is the Holy Spirit who now quickens dead sinners into newness of life, so of the Anti-spirit we are told, ‘He had power to give life unto the image of the Beast’ (Rev. 13:15+).⁶⁶

To regard the Antichrist as limited to the religious realm and divorced from the political, seems to us, to leave out entirely an essential and fundamental element of his character and career. The Antichrist will claim to be the true Christ, the Christ of God. Hence, it would seem that he will present himself to the Jews as their long-expected Messiah - the One foretold by the Old Testament prophets - and that before apostate Christendom, given over by God to believe the Lie, he will pose as the returned Christ. Therefore, must we not predict, as an inevitable corollary, that the pseudo christ, will usher in a false millennium, and rule over a mock Messianic Kingdom? Why was it (from the human side) that, when our Lord tabernacled among men, the Jews rejected Him as their Messiah? Was it not because He failed to fulfill their expectations that he would take the government upon His shoulder and wield the royal sceptre as soon as He presented Himself to them? Was it not because they looked for Him to restore the Kingdom to Israel there and then? Is it not therefore reasonable to suppose that when the Antichrist presents himself to them, that he will wield great temporal power, and rule over a vast earthly empire? It would certainly seem so.⁶⁸

The two horns have a pertinent significance, for two is the number of witness and just as Christ declared the Spirit of God should ‘testify (lit., bear witness) of Me’ (John 15:26), so the third person in the Trinity of Evil bears witness to the first Beast.⁷²

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits (Mat. 7:15-16a). [emphasis added]

Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. (Mat. 24:11-14)

3.13.12 - Revelation 13:12

The alliance of religion and state has a long and sad record of despotism and suppression, but the ecclesio-political union of these to human beasts will culminate in the worst period of persecution in the history of the world. . . . Each leader assists and supports the other, the king enforcing the religious authority of the prophet and the prophet persuading the world’s superstitious masses that the king should be worshiped and obeyed as a god.⁷⁴

At first sight it appears strange, if not incongruous, that a military despot should be found filling the character of a religious impostor. But history shows that there is a point at which one character readily merges into the other. Political ambition, intoxicated by success, finds it an easy step from self-glorification to self-deification, and the popular infatuation as easily passes from the abject adulation of the tyrant to the adoration of the god.⁷⁶

True children of God are to be found in many varying shades of Christianity, sprinkled throughout Christendom. There are undoubtedly born-again individuals in the midst of all churches. They are saved in spite of the organizations and not because of the organizations. What is going to happen to all of these organizations when the true believers are removed from the world? Already, in our own day, we see indications that much of the guiding force of these great organizations is in the hands of those who would deny essential truths of Scripture. This tendency will increase, and at the coming of Christ for the believers, the tares in the midst of the wheat will go on functioning as usual, all moving rapidly into one great church union, with one head of all. This religious leader will work together with the political dictator.⁷⁷

3.13.13 - Revelation 13:13

The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2Th. 2:9-12)

Christ’s miracles, as miracles, were no evidence of His Divine mission. The real evidence was that the miracles which He wrought were the very miracles which the Prophetic Word had declared He should work, and which were on that account the sign and seal of His ministry, and formed His credentials from on high. This is clear from Mat. 11:1-6. It was not that they were mere miraculous acts, but that they were what God had foretold, and the essence of their testimony was to the truth of God’s word, rather than the power of Christ. Hence it is that they are so generally called “signs,” and not merely “wonders.”⁸⁰

Two Foundations of Faith

But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. (Acts 8:9-11)

If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and hold fast to Him. (Deu. 13:1-4)

3.13.14 - Revelation 13:14

The term abomination refers to an image or an idol. This even is also mentioned in Matthew 24:15-16: . . . The only clue given is that it will be something standing (like an image or idol) in the Holy Place. . . . the Abomination of Desolation must include something more than merely the Antichrist’s self-proclamation of deity. Furthermore, the Daniel and Matthew passages implied an image or idol that would be erected in the Temple. . . . Thus, the two stages of the Abomination of Desolation, lasting a total of 1,290 days will be the declaration of deity by the Antichrist in the Holy of Holies followed by the setting up of his image in the same place.⁸⁵

The making of an image to the beast (v. 14), or an image of the beast (v. 15), the giving breath to the image, and the requirement that all men worship it are difficult features to correlate with any action known to have occurred in Israel in the first century. This need not be taken literally, however, and can simply refer to the Jew’s general homage to Rome’s authority. [emphasis added]⁸⁶

3.13.15 - Revelation 13:15

What profit is the image, that its maker should carve it, the molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it, to make mute idols? Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet in it there is no breath at all. (Hab. 2:18-19 cf. Ps. 135:17-18; Jer. 10:14; 51:17-19)

The word in the Greek is pneuma, meaning “spirit” or “wind.” The false prophet is enabled (by his own master, Satan) to impart a spirit to the image, but that spirit is one of Satan’s unclean spirits, probably a highly placed demon in the satanic hierarchy. This is a striking case of demon possession, with the demon possessing the body of the image rather than that of a man or woman.⁹⁰

The abomination of desolation, which the reader is to understand, includes the following elements: 1. It occurs in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem (Dan. 11:31+; 2Th. 2:4). 2. It involves a person setting up a statue in place of the regular sacrifice in the holy of holies (Dan. 11:31+; 12:11+; Rev. 13:14-15+). 3. This results in the cessation of the regular sacrifice (Dan. 9:27+; 11:31+; 12:11+). 4. There will be a time of about three-and-a-half years between this event . . . and the end of the time period (Dan. 9:27+; 12:11+). 5. It involves an individual setting up a statue or image of himself so that he may be worshipped in place of God (Dan. 11:31+; 2Th. 2:4; Rev. 13:14-15+). 6. The image is made to come to life (Rev. 13:14+). 7. A worship system to this false god is thus inaugurated (2Th. 2:4; Rev. 13:14-15+). 8. At the end of this time period the individual who commits the act will himself be cut off (Dan. 9:27+).⁹¹

3.13.16 - Revelation 13:16

[DeMar] equates the mark of Revelation 13+ (Rev. 13:16+) with the mark that is given to the 144,000 by the Lamb. “Will Jesus implant a microchip in the foreheads of the 144,000?” he asks. Here DeMar confuses things that must not be confused. As the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ does not need some kind of a visible mark to help Him watch over the 144,000. The Antichrist and his minions, however, are not divine. . . . Mention of an invisible mark in one place of Scripture need not imply that the mark in all other places is invisible.⁹⁷

A strictly literal translation of “the mark of the beast” might imply “a picture of the beast” or “a mark made by the beast.” A more satisfactory indication of the relationship between “mark” and “beast” would be “a mark showing one’s relationship to the beast” or “a mark of loyalty to the beast” or “a mark of the party of the beast.”⁹⁸

In summary, the mark of the beast would signify to the reader of the time that the recipient: worshipped the beast as divine, acknowledged the beast’s authority, is devoted to the beast, and considers himself to be the beast’s property or slave to command.⁹⁹

In the Papyri, χάραγμα [charagma] is always connected with the Emperor, and sometimes contains his name and effigy, with the year of his reign. It was necessary for buying and selling. It is found on all sorts of documents, making them valid; and there are many on “bills of sale.” Charagma is therefore the official seal.¹⁰⁰

This mark has nothing to do with credit, as is often taught today. In a credit system, everyone must have a different number. In this case, everyone has the same number. The purpose of the mark will be to serve as a sign of identification of those who will own the Antichrist as their god. Only those who have this number will be permitted to work, to buy, to sell, or simply to make a living. The verse does not speak of credit cards, banking systems, a cashless society, a one-world money system, or computers, etc.¹⁰¹

• It requires the worshiper to permanently deface his body as an act of homage.
• It provides a ready means to identify those without the mark.
• It is immune to the fragility of technical systems—especially given the disruptive nature of the time of the end.

While I admit that the preposition epi is used, this does not consign the futurist interpretation [of an implanted mark] to sudden death. If this mark were purely on the surface of the skin, the resultant loss of skin, as happens regularly with people, would mean the mark would disappear. For this mark to have any degree of permanence it must, in some sense, be “in” the tissue. The use of επι [epi] doesn’t really deny that. it is simply saying that the mark is visible to someone, or to some device such as a scanner. In fact the word “mark” (charagma) comes from the verb charasso which means “to cut to a point, then to inscribe.” it is really not farfetched to see the phrase as describing some kind of minor surgery—a “cutting to a point”—for the insertion of a chip that will be “inscribed” with data.¹⁰²

This is a time in which Jesus’ injunction to cut off one’s hand (Mat. 18:8) can be taken literally, for Rev. 14:9-10+ and 20:4+ make it plain that no one bearing the mark of the Beast will enter eternal life. Indeed, it will be better to enter eternal life maimed than to be cast into hell-fire whole.¹⁰³

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (De 6:6-9 cf. Ex. 13:9, 16) [emphasis added]

3.13.17 - Revelation 13:17

The mystic use of numbers (the rabbinical Ghematria, γεωμετρία [geōmetria] ) was familiar to the Jews in Babylon, and passed from them to the Greeks in Asia. It occurs in the Cabbala, in the Sibylline Books (I. 324-331), in the Epistle of Barnabas, and was very common also among the Gnostic sects . . . It arose from the employment of the letters of the Hebrew and Greek alphabets for the designation of numbers. The Hebrew Aleph counts 1, Beth 2, etc., Yodh 10; but Kaph (the eleventh letter) counts 20, Resh (the twentieth letter) 200, etc. The Greek letters, with the addition of an acute accent (as ά, βˊ), have the same numerical value in their order down to Sigma, which counts 200; except that σ̃ (st, [stigma]) is used for 6, and φˊ (an antiquated letter Koppa between π and ρ) for 90. The Hebrew alphabet ends with Tav = 400, the Greek with Omega = 800. To express thousands an accent is put beneath the letter, as α, [a,] = 1,000; β, [b,] = 2,000; ι, [i,] = 10,000.¹⁰⁵

Doubtless, the invention of computers and the introduction of a “cashless society” would aid in the enforcement of an economic boycott against Christians. However, the mark is the “name of the beast or the number of his name” (Rev. 13:17+) not the name or number that identifies each individual citizen.¹⁰⁶

3.13.18 - Revelation 13:18

Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number [666] being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six; that is, the number of tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and the number of hundreds equal to that of the units (for that number which [expresses] the digit six being adhered to throughout . . . I do not know how it is that some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated the middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that instead of six decades they will have it that there is but one. (I am inclined to think that this occurred through the fault of the copyists, as is wont to happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters; so that the Greek letter which expresses the number sixty [xi, ξ] was easily expanded into the letter Iota [ι] of the Greeks.) Others then received this reading without examination; some in their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility, making use of this number expressing one decade; while some, in their inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the erroneous and spurious number.—Irenaeus, Against Heresies, v.xxx¹¹⁶

For that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, when they did not worship it, were cast into a furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end. For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man’s coming, decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men.—Irenaeus, Against Heresies, v.xxx¹¹⁷

There are seven ways of calculating gematria in Jewish tradition. 1) Ragil: This method is the basis for all the other methods. Each letter of the alphabet has its own numerical value. The numerical value of a word or phrase is the sum total of the values of its letters. 2) Katan: All the tens and hundreds are converted to the single numbers 1 to 9. 3) K’lali: In this method, the value of a word is the square of the sum of the ragil values of each letter in that word. 4) Millui: This method gives a letter the numerical value of the sum of the ragil values of the letters that make up the name of the letter. 5) Kolel: This method sums the ragil values of the letters in a word plus the number of letters. 5) Hakadmi: The value of the first letter is ragil. The accumulated value of the second letter is its ragil value plus the ragil value of the first letter. The accumulated value of the third letter is its ragil value plus the accumulated value of the second letter, etc. 7) Haperati: The value of each letter is the square of its ragil value. The value of the word is the sum of all the squares of its letters. It is apparent that the k’lali, millui, kolel, hakadmi, and haperati methods are unlikely to be intended in this passage, since they would tend to produce numerical values much in excess of 666. These methods also seem to be late additions not in use during the New Testament period. Only the ragil and katan methods are candidates for this calculation. Katan suffers from four shortcomings: 1) It would require a long name to evaluate to 666 (at least 74 letters). 2) The Talmud only uses ragil. 3) Therefore, katan is a later development and not contemporary with the Revelation. 4+) Only ragil has an analogue in Greek and Roman culture, katan does not.¹¹⁸

1. The value of the number in and of itself is too broad—too many historic names can be made to generate “666.” (See A Lock almost any Key will Turn.)
2. The church will not be present when the Beast becomes known to the world, for she will have been taken in the Rapture (2Th. 2:1-8).
3. The number of his name is perhaps the least important clue among many attributes which Scripture set forth concerning the identity and ministry of this individual. Certainly it is the most elastic.
4. While the Restrainer remains (2Th. 2:7), he will not be revealed. No amount of conjecture or analysis will bring him forth prior to God’s timing. While there are no preconditions for the removal of the Restrainer, he could continue to restrain for decades or even centuries beyond our present time.¹²²

A similar use of nous and sophia occurs in Rev. 17:9+, where John calls attention to the identity of the beast ridden by the harlot. What John seems to be asking for in both cases is divine discernment and not mathematical ingenuity! Believers need to penetrate the deception of the beast. John’s reference to his number will help them to recognize his true character and identity.¹²³

The better part of wisdom is to be content that the identification is not yet available, but will be when the future false Christ ascends to his throne. The person to whom 666 applies must have been future to John’s time, because John clearly meant the number to be recognizable to someone. If it was not discernible to his generation and those immediately following him—and it was not—the generation to whom it will be discernible must have lain (and still lies) in the future. Past generations have provided many illustrations of this future personage, but all past candidates have proven inadequate as fulfillments. Christians from generation to generation may manifest the same curiosity as the prophets of old regarding their own prophecies (cf. 1Pe. 1:10-11), but their curiosity will remain unsatisfied until the time of fulfillment arrives.¹²⁴

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Notes

¹ Some infer from the placement of the material of chapter 13 following upon the plight of the woman in chapter 12 that “the rest of her offspring” (Rev. 12:17+) must be those who are subsequently persecuted within chapter 13+. If so, then her offspring would include all who refuse to take the mark, both Jew and Gentile. [Alan F. Johnson, Revelation: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), Rev. 13:1] Yet there are valid reasons to understand her offspring as physical Jews. See commentary on Revelation 12:1.

² We note that the term Antichrist is not used by John in the book of Revelation. But neither is the little horn or many of the other names which apply throughout Scripture to this individual, here designated as the first beast. See Man of Many Names.

³ “Though the Holy Spirit ‘[will be] taken out of the way’ (2Th. 2:7) in the Tribulation, this has to do with His work of restraining sin and not with His indwelling and empowering believers.”—Russell L. Penney, “Pneumatology in the Book of Revelation,” in Mal Couch, ed., A Bible Handbook to Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 2001), 119.

⁴ John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1966), s.v. “Some manuscripts read, "he stood," the change being effected by the dropping of one letter .”

⁵ Walter Scott, Exposition of The Revelation (London, England: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.), Rev. 13:1.

⁶ Donald Grey Barnhouse, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), Rev. 13:1.

⁷ Ibid.

⁸ J. A. Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), 322.

⁹ Arthur Walkington Pink, The Antichrist (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1999, 1923), s.v. “Antichrist in the Apocalypse.”

¹⁰ Daniel K. Wong, “The Beast From The Sea in Revelation 13,” in Bibliotheca Sacra, vol. 160 no. 639 (Dallas, TX: Dallas Theological Seminary, July-September 2003), 337.

¹¹ Randall Price, “Antichrist,” in Mal Couch, ed., Dictionary of Premillennial Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996), 46.

¹² Barnhouse, Revelation, 103.

¹³ Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, rev ed. (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 2003), 676.

¹⁴ “To say that the sea stands for the abyss carries on the OT concept of the sea, that is the source of the satanic sea monster (cf. Job 26:12-13; Ps. 74:13-14; 87:4; 89:9-10; Isa. 27:1; 51:9-10) (Johnson). Also, Paul equates the sea with the abyss in his Rom. 10:7 citation of Deu. 30:13.”—Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1995), Rev. 13:1.

¹⁵ Concerning inaccuracies in the KJV and NKJV, see commentary on Revelation 17:10.

¹⁶ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “Babylon and the Antichrist.”

¹⁷ “Beginning with verse 36, a sharp break in the prophecy may be observed, introduced by the expression the time of the end in verse 35. Up to this point, the prophecy dealing with the Persian and Grecian Empires has been fulfilled minutely and with amazing precision. Beginning with verse 36, however, an entirely different situation obtains. No commentator claims to find precise fulfillment in the remainder of this chapter. Although Zöckler and others attempt to relate Daniel 11:36-45+ to Antiochus, many students of Scripture have recognized from antiquity that another king must be in view. Ibn-Ezra, for example, identified this king with Constantine the Great; Rashi and Calvin referred him to the Roman Empire as a whole; and Jerome, Theodoret, and Luther, among others, identified him with the New Testament Antichrist.”—John F. Walvoord, Daniel: The Key to Prophetic Revelation (Chicago, IL: Moody Bible Institute, 1971), Dan. 11:36.

¹⁸ “Because the leopard, lion, and bear in Revelation 13:2+ are also used in Daniel 7+ to depict nations, the interpreter is alerted to the fact that John is employing symbolic language. Thus, the leopard, lion, and bear also represent nations in Revelation 13+ just as they did in Daniel 7+.”—Andy Woods, What is the Identity of Babylon In Revelation 17-18?.

¹⁹ Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1957), 188.

²⁰ John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2000), Rev. 13:1.

²¹ “We are at a loss to understand how this can be the Roman Empire revived! For the Beast itself is like a leopard (Greece) (Dan. 7:6+). Its feet are those of the bear (Medo-Persia); and its mouth is like a lion’s mouth (Babylon). Where is the Roman Empire here in any form? If the Beast be the Roman Empire, does he have himself, intact, for one of his own heads? The notion is only a venerable, but vain, imagination. Rome cannot be at the same time one of the heads, and yet the whole Beast himself. ‘One is’ (Rev. 17:10+). That is said to be the Roman Empire. But it is added, ‘the other is not.’ Is this the Roman Empire too? Clearly not! What we have here is the embodiment and personification of the sovereignty of the world under Satanic power.”—E. W. Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1984, 1935), Rev. 13:2.

²² Merrill F. Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2002), Hos. 13:8.

²³ Frederick William Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 265.

²⁴ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “The Genius and Character of the Antichrist.”

²⁵ Ibid., s.v. “The Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition.”

²⁶ Ibid., s.v. “The Antichrist in Revelation 13.”

²⁷ Concerning inaccuracies in the KJV and NKJV, see commentary on Revelation 17:10.

²⁸ “The ‘healing,’ then, of the head of the beast, speaks of the Roman Empire, which fell in A.D. 476; the empire has a latter-day emergence, form, or development.”—Wong, “The Beast From The Sea in Revelation 13,” 346.

²⁹ Thomas, Revelation 8-22, Rev. 13:3.

³⁰ The Greek is identical with the exception of the gender of the participle: the Lamb is masculine, the head is feminine. A similar phrase appears in Revelation 13:8+.

³¹ “Many take the phrase, as though he had been smitten unto death, to mean that the Antichrist appeared to be dead but was not really. However, the same idiom is used of Messiah in Revelation 5:6+, and there was no question that Messiah died.”—Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 247.

³² Thomas Ice, “The Death and Resurrection of the Beast, Part 2,” in Pre-Trib Perspectives, vol. 8 no. 23 (Dallas, TX: Pre-Trib Research Center, May 2005), 5.

³³ Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 668.

³⁴ Monty S. Mills, Revelations: An Exegetical Study of the Revelation to John (Dallas, TX: 3E Ministries, 1987), Rev. 13:3.

³⁵ “The popular Islamic picture of the Antichrist, or Dajjal, graphically portrays him as blind in one eye, with the word kafir—unbeliever—written on his forehead; his primary function is to mislead the unbelieving masses by claiming divinehood and the power to perform miracles.”—Norman L. Geisler and Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1993), 113.

³⁶ “Some have seen in the healing of the wound a reference to the Nero redivivus belief of the first century . . . It is doubtful . . . that John would have used a false rumor as a basis for this.”—Wong, “The Beast From The Sea in Revelation 13,” 346n27.

³⁷ The preference for an individual to worship is evident from the time of Rome: “The worship of emperors . . . provided a living tangible, audible deity for men who had been accustomed to the formal routine of ritual observance. The gods of Graeco-Roman legend had no reality; and their very existence had been challenged by the philosophers. The [Roman] emperor was the living head of the state and the guardian of its welfare. . . . His abilities and deeds seemed almost superhuman to the ordinary man of the street. Here at last was a real person whose position and powers made him worthy of worship.”—Tenney, Interpreting Revelation, 24.

³⁸ Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 248.

³⁹ Regarding the phrase, “the desire of women”: “The most plausible explanation, in the light of Daniel’s Jewish background and Antichrist’s prime persecuting energies that will be spent against the Jews, is that the reference is to the natural desire of Hebrew women to become the mother of the promised Messiah (Gen. 3:15), making the expression a symbol of the Messianic hope in general. The ‘desire of women’ would be a subjective genitive: ‘that desired by women.’ Favoring that interpretation is the contextual position of the phrase sandwiched between references to ‘the gods of his fathers’ and ‘any god.’ ”—Unger, Unger’s Commentary on the Old Testament, Dan. 11:37.

⁴⁰ Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. I (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), s.v. “ECF 1.1.7.1.3.7.”

⁴¹ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “Antichrist in the Apocalypse.”

⁴² MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Rev. 13:1.

⁴³ Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation, Rev. 13:5.

⁴⁴ Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 682.

⁴⁵ “Christ’s public ministry was limited to three years and a half; so also will the Antichrist’s final ministry be (Rev. 13:5+).”—Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “Comparisons between Christ and the Antichrist.”

⁴⁶ Roberts, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. I, s.v. “ECF 1.1.7.1.5.31.”

⁴⁷ Seiss, The Apocalypse: Lectures on the Book of Revelation, 328.

⁴⁸ Wong also notes that the removal of the Restrainer (2Th. 2:6-8), the Holy Spirit, suggests a pretribulational rapture.

⁴⁹ Wong, “The Beast From The Sea in Revelation 13,” 347.

⁵⁰ Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 35.

⁵¹ Tenney, Interpreting Revelation, 196-197.

⁵² We uphold the unlimited atonement of Christ’s blood for all of mankind. He was given for the world: John 3:16; 6:51; Rom. 5:18; 2Cor. 5:14-19; 1Ti. 2:4-6; Heb. 2:9; 1Jn. 2:2; 4:14.

⁵³ James Strong, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (Ontario: Woodside Bible Fellowship, 1996), G2602.

⁵⁴ A complete scroll of Isaiah was found as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dated prior to Christ, it contains this amazing chapter predicting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ hundreds of years in advance. It stands as irrefutable evidence of both the inspiration of the OT and the identity of Jesus Christ as the predicted Messiah of Israel.

⁵⁵ Concerning the worship of Jesus: Mat. 2:2; 8:2; 9:18; 14:33; 15:25; 28:9, 17; 20:20; Mark 5:6; Luke 24:52; John 5:18, 23; 9:38; 20:28; Acts 7:59; Ps. 31:5; Php. 2:9; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 5:13+; 7:10+.

⁵⁶ Andy Woods, “Revelation 13 and the First Beast,” in Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, eds., The End Times Controversy (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2003), 239.

⁵⁷ Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 846.

⁵⁸ The importance of God’s sovereignty is a teaching which is sadly lacking among many Christians today. This is a side-effect of the drift of Christianity away from a God-centered toward a man-centered frame of reference. God is seen more as a “big buddy in the sky” Whose primary role is to “make my life better.” Could it be, having come to faith in Christ, in numerous cases our suffering might actually increase?

⁵⁹ Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 44.

⁶⁰ Albrecht Durer (1471 - 1528). Image courtesy of the Connecticut College Wetmore Print Collection.

⁶¹ Philip Schaff and David Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 1997, 1916), 1.12.101.

⁶² Barnhouse, Revelation, 240.

⁶³ “Most interpreters view the two Beasts as two aspects of the same thing. All seem to be agreed that they are not individuals; which is the very thing that the ordinary reader would at once take them to be. Little help, therefore, can be expected from such guides.”—Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation, Rom. 13:11.

⁶⁴ Woods, “Revelation 13 and the First Beast,” 248.

⁶⁵ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “The Antichrist in Revelation 13.”

⁶⁶ Ibid., s.v. “Antichrist in the Apocalypse.”

⁶⁷ Those who emphasize an exclusively religious role for the Antichrist fail to appreciate the political promises found in Messiah who reigns from the throne of David upon His return. See The Arrival of God’s Kingdom.

⁶⁸ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “Antichrist in Revelation 13.”

⁶⁹ “It might well be . . . though we would not press the point, that this anti-Spirit would be a Jew, and that he would be used of Satan to deceive Israel if possible.”—Barnhouse, Revelation, 242. “This individual is evidently a Jew, since he arises out of the earth, or land, that is Palestine (Rev. 13:11+).”—J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1958), 336.

⁷⁰ “Whereas earlier the four beasts arose out of the sea, here they arise out of the earth. Coming out of the sea emphasizes their Gentile identity. Arising out of the earth emphasizes their humanity.”—Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 29.

⁷¹ Not all agree: “In contrast to the first beast, who will come up out of the sea (Rev. 13:1+), the second beast will come up out of the earth. Like Antichrist, the false prophet will be indwelt by a demon out of the abyss.”—MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary, Rev. 13:11. It can also be said that the Witch of Endor “saw a spirit ascending out of the earth” (1S. 28:13). Yet there is no mention elsewhere in Scripture of a source for the False Prophet from the abyss. Moreover, there is great emphasis placed upon such a source for the Beast. The silence of other passages on such a suggestion is weighty.

⁷² Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “Antichrist in Revelation 13.”

⁷³ Mills, Revelations: An Exegetical Study of the Revelation to John, Rev. 13:12.

⁷⁴ Henry Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1983), Rev. 13:12.

⁷⁵ “Just as the Holy Spirit calls all men to worship the resurrected Son, the False Prophet will call men to worship the resurrected counterfeit son.”—Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 254.

⁷⁶ Pink, The Antichrist, s.v. “The Career of the Antichrist.”

⁷⁷ Barnhouse, Revelation, 243.

⁷⁸ Ibid., 244.

⁷⁹ This also indicates the level to which occult magic had developed within early Egypt. However, they were unable to bring forth lice (Ex. 8:18). See 2 Timothy 3:8.

⁸⁰ Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation, Rev. 13:13.

⁸¹ We do postmodernism a favor here by calling it thought!

⁸² They are no better off than the Roman Catholics who are subject to the authority of the Magisterium of Rome over the Scriptures.

⁸³ “These miracles are not counterfeit, but are used to establish false claims.”—Jerome Smith, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1992), Rev. 13:14.

⁸⁴ We have no information as to the size of the image. Since Paul informs us that the Beast will “sit as God in the temple of God” (2Th. 2:4), and Jesus tells us that the abomination stands in the “holy place” (Mat. 24:15), it would seem unlikely for the image to be a colossal statue for it would require the removal or modification of the temple in order to stand in the holy place.

⁸⁵ Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 257,259,260.

⁸⁶ Steve Gregg, Revelation Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 300.

⁸⁷ Concerning God’s involvement with the inception and development of life: Ex. 21:22-23; Jdg. 13:5; Job 10:11; 31:15; Ps. 22:9-10; 119:73; 139:13; Ecc. 11:5; Isa. 44:2, 24; 49:5; Jer. 1:5. This is one of numerous reasons why abortion is morally equivalent to murder (Ex. 21:22-23). It is the interrupting by sinful man of that which God has established.

⁸⁸ Here again we see the parallel between the False Prophet and the Holy Spirit: both refusing to draw attention to themselves, but dedicated to pointing to whom they serve.

⁸⁹ Thomas, Revelation 8-22, Rev. 13:15.

⁹⁰ Morris, The Revelation Record, Rev. 13:15.

⁹¹ Thomas Ice, “An Interpretation of Matthew 24-25—Part XIII,” in Pre-Trib Perspectives, vol. 8 no. 1 (Dallas, TX: Pre-Trib Research Center, May 2003), 6.

⁹² Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 8.

⁹³ W. E. Vine, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, IL: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1996), G5480.

⁹⁴ Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains (New York, NY: United Bible Societies, 1996, c1989), 1:443.

⁹⁵ Yet χάραγμα [charagma] is used of brands on animals which denotes ownership. [Danker, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 876]

⁹⁶ Friberg, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, 406.

⁹⁷ Larry Spargimino, “How Preterists Misuse History to Advance their View of Prophecy,” in Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice, eds., The End Times Controversy (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2003), 25.

⁹⁸ Louw, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament : Based on Semantic Domains, 1:443.

⁹⁹ Hal Harless, “666: The Beast and His Mark in Revelation 13,” in The Conservative Theological Journal, vol. 7 no. 22 (Fort Worth, TX: Tyndale Theological Seminary, December 2003), 341.

¹⁰⁰ Bullinger, Commentary On Revelation, Rev. 13:16.

¹⁰¹ Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of Messiah, 255.

¹⁰² Spargimino, “How Preterists Misuse History to Advance their View of Prophecy,” 24-25.

¹⁰³ Mills, Revelations: An Exegetical Study of the Revelation to John, Rev. 13:11.

¹⁰⁴ Randall Price, The Stones Cry Out: What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1997), 279.

¹⁰⁵ Schaff, History of the Christian Church, 1.12.101.

¹⁰⁶ Harless, “666: The Beast and His Mark in Revelation 13,” 360-361.

¹⁰⁷ “If ἀνθρώπου [anthrōpou] is generic, then the sense is, ‘It is [the] number of humankind.’ It is significant that this construction fits Apollonius’ Canon (i.e., both the head noun and the genitive are anarthrous), suggesting that if one of these nouns is definite, then the other is, too. Grammatically, those who contend that the sense is ‘it is [the] number of a man’ have the burden of proof on them (for they treat the head noun, ἀριθμὸς [arithmos] , as definite and the genitive, ἀνθρώπου [anthrōpou] , as indefinite—the rarest of all possibilities). In light of Johannine usage, we might also add Rev. 16:18+, where the Seer clearly uses the anarthrous ἂνθρωπος [anthrōpos] in a generic sense, meaning ‘humankind.’ The implications of this grammatical possibility, exegetically speaking, are simply that the number ‘666’ is the number that represents humankind. Of course, an individual is in view, but his number may be the number representing all of humankind. Thus the Seer might be suggesting here that the antichrist, who is the best representative of humanity without Christ (and the best counterfeit of a perfect man that his master, that old serpent, could muster), is still less than perfection (which would have been represented by the number seven).”—Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics - Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House and Galaxie Software, 1999, 2002), 253.

¹⁰⁸ “It is counted as men usually count. Compare Rev. 21:17+, and ‘a man’s pen,’ Isa. 8:1.”—M. R. Vincent, Vincent’s Word Studies (Escondido, CA: Ephesians Four Group, 2002), Rev. 13:18.

¹⁰⁹ Ibid.

¹¹⁰ E. W. Bullinger, Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1967), 48-49.

¹¹¹ Bullinger explores the relationship between the name of the character stigma and the mark of this passage: “The number 6 was stamped on the old mysteries. The great secret symbol consisted of the three letters SSS, because the letter S in the Greek alphabet was the symbol of the figure 6 . . . α = 1, β = 2, γ = 3, δ = 4, ε = 5, but when it came to 6, another letter was introduced! Not the next—the sixth letter (ζ, zeta)—but a different letter, a peculiar form of S, called “stigma.” Now the word στίγμα [stigma] , means a mark, but especially a mark made by a brand as burnt upon slaves, cattle, or soldiers, by their owners or masters; or on devotees who thus branded themselves as belonging to their gods. It is from στίζω [stizō] , to prick, or brand with a hot iron. Hence it came to be used of scars or wound-prints, and it is thus used by Paul of his scars, which he regarded as the tokens of his sufferings, the marks which he bore on his body for the sake of his Lord and Master, and marking him as belonging to the one who had bought him (Gal. 6:17).”—Ibid., 283.

¹¹² “The expression of this number, Χ ξ ςˊ consists of the initial and final letters of the word χριστός [christos] , christ, viz., χ and ςˊ with the symbol of the serpent between them, χ-ξ-ςˊ.”—Bullinger, Number in Scripture: Its Supernatural Design and Spiritual Significance, 49.

¹¹³ Bullinger mentions several interesting properties associated with this value: “It is remarkable that the Romans did not use all the letters of their alphabet, as did the Hebrews and Greeks. They used only six letters, D, C, L, X, V, and I. And it is still more remarkable, and perhaps significant, that the sum of these amounts to 666: 1. D = 500; 2. C = 100; 3. L = 50; 4. X = 10; 5. V = 5; 6. I = 1.”—Ibid., 284. “The number 666 has another remarkable property. It is further marked as the concentration and essence of 6 by being the sum of all the numbers which make up the square of six! The square of six is 36 (6², or 6 x 6), and the sum of the numbers 1 to 36 [36 factorial] = 666, i.e., 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 + 18 + 19 + 20 + 21 + 22 + 23 + 24 + 25 + 26 + 27 + 28 + 29 + 30 + 31 + 32 + 33 + 34 + 35 + 36 = 666.”—Ibid., 286.

¹¹⁴ “The only textual issue that we are concerned with is the correct reading of Revelation 13:18+, και ὁ ἀριθμὸ αὐτοὺ ἑξακοσιοι ἑξήκοντα ἕξ [kai ho arithmo autou hexakosioi hexēkonta hex] , ‘and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.’ This is the reading of Sinaiticus (א), Alexandrinus (A), Chester Beatty papyrus (p⁴⁷), many Italic manuscripts (it), the Vulgate (Vg), and most other manuscripts including the Syrian (syr) and Coptic (cop). The Italic manuscript (it) has τεσσερακοντα [tesserakonta] , ‘forty’ instead of ἑξήκοντα [hexēkonta] , ‘sixty.’ This is probably due to a scribal error confusing Revelation 14:1+ with 13:18+. This reading does not appear until the ninth century. Of more concern is the δεκα [deka] ‘ten’ of Ephraemi Rescriptus (ca. fifth century) and the Italic manuscript Harleianus Londiniensis (it^z, eighth century). Irenaeus was aware of this textual variant but roundly condemned it as misleading. This strong testimony from Irenaeus and the late nature of the variant reading lend confidence that 666, not 646 or 616, is the correct reading.”—Harless, “666: The Beast and His Mark in Revelation 13,” 337.

¹¹⁵ “Instead of ἑξήκοντα [hexēkonta] , which is strongly supported by P⁴⁷ א A P 046 051 all extant minuscules it^gig gv syr^{ph, h} cop^{sa, bo} arm al, δέκα [deka] is read by C some manuscripts known to Irenaeus . . . and Tyconius^pt. According to Tishendorf’s 8th ed., the numeral 616 was also read by two minuscule manuscripts that unfortunately are no longer extant . . . When Greek letters are used as numerals the difference between 666 and 616 is merely a change from ξ to ι (666 = χξςˊ and 616 = χιςˊ. Perhaps this change was intentional, seeing that the Greek form Nero Caesar written in Hebrew characters (נרון קסר [nrwn qsr] ) is equivalent to 666, whereas the Latin form of Nero Caesar [in Hebrew] (נרו קסר [nrw qsr] is equivalent to 616.”—Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Stuttgart, Germany: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), Rev. 13:18.

¹¹⁶ Roberts, Ante-Nicene Fathers Vol. I, s.v. “ECF 1.1.7.1.5.31.”

¹¹⁷ Ibid., s.v. “ECF 1.1.7.1.5.30.”

¹¹⁸ Harless, “666: The Beast and His Mark in Revelation 13,” 343-344.

¹¹⁹ Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, s.v. “666 False Trinity.”

¹²⁰ “Many . . . take the view that the number 666 represents man’s falling short of perfection. . . . No Greek article appears before the word ‘man,’ so one could render the statement, ‘it is the number of man.’ ”—Wong, “The Beast From The Sea in Revelation 13,” 338n2.

¹²¹ Ibid., 337n2.

¹²² We are not suggesting it is likely that he will remain for such great periods beyond our day, merely recognizing the Scriptural possibility.

¹²³ Johnson, Revelation: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 138.

¹²⁴ Thomas, Revelation 8-22, Rev. 13:18.

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